Today, Neil McDonough runs the company his father founded, which has grown to become a flexible converter with four production facilities and over 1,000 employees. The company continues to specialize in meeting its customers' needs for custom, often short-run, adhesive coated and laminated plastic film materials, which are used to label and decorate durable goods and advertise brands.

“The complexity of our business has increased over the years as our customers have asked for materials to survive harsher environments, to act as barriers to UV, oxygen, or moisture,” McDonough explains, which has led the company to develop a large variety of plastic films and adhesives.

IndustryWeek talked to McDonough about FLEXcon’s continuing evolution as the needs of its customers and the marketplace change.

What impact has automation had at your company in recent years?

McDonough: Quality expectations have increased through the years. This has led to more digitization and automation, collecting data about the process and making sure the results are repeatable, even when the runs are small batches that run infrequently. Cost pressures have also pushed FLEXcon to adopt automation for routine jobs, such as packaging.